Jay Z and Timbaland were all smiles when they showed up to court a few weeks ago, and we can only imagine what they look like now.
It was decided Wednesday (Oct. 21) that the copyright infringement lawsuit surrounding their collaboration “Big Pimpin'” off of Jigga’s album Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter has been resolved, with the judge ruling in their favor.
The lawsuit, which Pitchfork reports is nearly four years old, was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder in Los Angeles, Calif. The case was brought to court by Osama Fahmy, nephew of the late Egyptian composer Baligh Hamdi whose song “Kohsara Khosara” is sampled on the 1999 jam.
“Fahmy lacked standing to pursue his claim. In light of that decision, it will not be necessary to submit to the jury whether ‘Big Pimpin’ infringed ‘Khosara Khosara,'” wrote The Hollywood Reporter. Jay Z, who testified in court last week, claimed he didn’t know his song sampled Hamdi’s track, and that he doesn’t check on these types of matters.
“I make music, I’m a rapper, I’ve got a clothing line, I run a label, a media label called Roc Nation, with a sports agency, music publishing and management. Restaurants and nightclubs … I think that about covers it,” Hov reportedly said in court. In order to “demonstrate the relative unimportance” of Hamdy’s song in “Big Pimpin,'” Timbaland’s attorneys reportedly brought out a keyboard so he could show them through the music, but due to technical difficulties, he beatboxed it so that the jury could see how important beats, not samples, are in his production.
Take a trip down memory lane and listen to “Big Pimpin'” below.